Students build background knowledge about black holes and active galaxies before taking on the roles of reporters to share information about a new NASA discovery. Students watch a simulated press briefing, gather notes, determine their target...(View More) audience and then write an article/produce a video. Instructions, handouts, answer keys and website links are provided.(View Less)

In this lesson, students imagine Mars to be a future vacation destination, and will need to encourage people to come and visit. Students will create a scripted travel video or commercial, or construct a brochure or website to convince people to...(View More) visit a fictitious base on Mars. This lesson is from "Red Planet: Read, Write, Explore!" which uses literacy, art, and creative expression as a vehicle for learning about Mars science and exploration. Includes alignment to Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts.(View Less)

This lesson introduces students to Mars' history through research and discussion. Students read about the history of Mars, Mars observing, and exploration with telescopes and robotic spacecraft. After learning about Mars, students consider how some...(View More) aspects of our early understanding of Mars included fictitious ideas not based upon science and discuss the differences between science fiction and science fact. Students will illustrate a scene from Mars history with a paragraph description, and place their work along a clothesline in the classroom to create a timeline. This lesson is from “Red Planet: Read, Write, Explore!” which uses literacy, art, and creative expression as a vehicle for learning about Mars science and exploration. Includes alignment to Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts.(View Less)

Using Google Earth/Mars and the recommended reading, students will compare and contrast Earth and Mars using graphic organizers. Includes background, separate student pages, and extensions. This lesson is from "Red Planet: Read, Write, Explore!"...(View More) which uses literacy, art, and creative expression as a vehicle for learning about Mars science and exploration. Includes alignment to Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts.(View Less)

This textbook chapter introduces the buffalo as a keystone species, and describes the environmental impacts of its near extinction, including today’s predominance of non-native species in the Great Plains. Human activities that contribute to...(View More) species extinction are addressed. Students graph historical sightings of buffalo, and calculate the number of buffalo killed for bone used in refining sugar and fertilizer and in the production of bone china. The resource includes a link to current news articles and a teacher's guide. This is the second chapter in the unit, Losing Biodiversity, examining the endangerment and extinction of entire species of plants and animals throughout the world due to human actions. The resource is part of Global System Science (GSS), an interdisciplinary course for high school students that emphasizes how scientists from a wide variety of fields work together to understand significant problems of global impact.(View Less)

In this engineering challenge, student teams are introduced to the engineering design process, and then construct and test an earthquake-resistant structure. The lesson plan includes teacher support, student worksheets, multimedia assets, and links...(View More) for students to conduct Web-based investigations. Authentic assessments, a multiple choice test, and rubrics are included. This is an optional extension activity associated with the resource, Flight Mission Challenge: Improving Earthquake Monitoring, a 3 part, multiple-day Earth science and engineering investigation.(View Less)

In this lesson, students create a fictional narrative on the beginning of time. They use their scientific knowledge of the Big Bang Theory and go back into time to when it occurred so they can make observations about it. Students can select from...(View More) four options for creating a final product that demonstrates their learning using the RAFT (Role, Audience, Format, and Topic) method. This lesson is from the Cosmic Times teachers guide and is intended to be used in conjunction with the 1955 Cosmic Times poster.(View Less)

In this lesson, students create a timeline of world events from 1905 until 2006. Students locate key dates from the Cosmic Times poster series and determine world events that fit into the three story strands of Cosmic Times, as well as, the...(View More) categories of Science, Culture, and World Events/Politics. The timeline allows students to see how the technology and data that scientists have used over the past 100 years have contributed to the cosmological knowledge and understanding that we have today. Students can also observe the historical significance of scientific discoveries over time, and place them within the context of world events. This activity is from the Cosmic Times teachers guide and uses all six Cosmic Times Posters.(View Less)

In this activity, students will create their own travel brochure or poster inviting people to visit a place where they could see an aurora. It is recommended that the class complete Lesson 1 in this series - What I know about the Aurora - prior to...(View More) this activity. Includes teacher notes and instructions, student workshops and an online, animated story, and related teacher resources on aurora. This is lesson four of a collection of five activities that can be used individually or as a sequence; concludes with a KWL (Know/Want-to-know/Learned) assessment activity.(View Less)